Yasmina Kattou 07:27, 05 April 2023

Will the French succeed in quitting smoking? While the price of the pack explodes, they say they are not discouraged by the continuous increases in cigarettes, according to a survey. But some smokers turn to contraband to save money.

After crossing the symbolic bar of 10 euros, the pack of cigarettes is now close to 11 euros. A large sum, supposed to discourage the French from smoking. However, nearly seven out of ten French people ensure that an increase in the price of cigarettes of more than € 0.70 will not prevent them from continuing to smoke, according to an American Povado survey of 13,000 respondents in 13 different countries, including France.

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Use of the parallel market

And the two increases in the price of the package over the last six months will not change that. The extra few cents to spend each time are almost painless for the majority of consumers. But some smokers decide to turn to the parallel market.

"What has been identified is an increase in illicit tobacco consumption of more than 10% over the last ten years," explains to the microphone of Europe 1 the deputy director of the polling institute Harris interactive, Jean-Daniel Lévy.

"Double impact"

"This is not a phenomenon that is trivial, and it can have a double impact: one, on the quality of cigarettes that are smoked by these French, and two, on taxes that are not collected by the State," he continues.

And the shortfall for the France seems significant. In the country, out of nearly 15 million cigarettes consumed per year, 30% were not bought from the tobacconist.